swered by others in the west, away over in the
Mazatzal, and the general went forth to the northern edge of the
"bench" to have a good look at them, wishing very much he had Stannard
or Turner or "Capitan Chiquito"--little Harris--to help him guess their
meaning.

But Stannard, with his sturdy troop, was still far afield, scouting the
fastnesses of the Mogollon in hopes still of overtaking the marauding
band that had ruined Bennett's ranch, murdered its owner, and borne
away into the wilds two helpless little settlers for whom a
half-crazed, heart-broken woman at Almy was wailing night and day.
Turner, following another route and clew, was exploring the Sierra
Ancha south of Tonto Creek, and Lieutenant Harris, in fever and
torment, was occupying an airy room in the post surgeon's quarters, the
object of Bentley's ceaseless care, and of deep solicitude on part of
the entire garrison.

Borne in the arms of Stannard's men, poor young Mrs. Bennett, raving,
had been carried back to the ruins, and thence by ambulance to the
post. There now she lay with her reason almost gone, nursed by the
hospital steward's wife, and visited frequently by three gentle women,
whose hearts were wrung at sight of her grief. Mrs. Stannard sometimes
spent hours in the effort to soothe and comfort her. Mrs. Archer was
hardly less assiduous, but was beginning now to have anxieties of her
own. Lilian, her beloved daughter, fancy free, as the mother had reason
to know, up to the time of their coming to this far-away,
out-of-the-way station, seemed dangerously near the point of losing her
heart to that very attractive and presentable fellow, Willett, the
aide-de-camp, and Mrs. Archer did not half like it.

When the news was brought in to Almy that Mrs. Bennett had been
recaptured, and that Lieutenant Harris was wounded in the fight which
scattered her abductors, Willett was the first to mount and away to
meet them. It was his orderly who came galloping back for the ambulance,
and Willett who, before the arrival of the surgeon, had caused to be
rigged up a capital litter on which, later, by easy stages his
suffering classmate was borne to the post. Harris was indeed sorely
hurt, so sorely that the faintest jar was agony. Harris was weak and
pallid from suffering when lifted to his couch in the doctor's
quarters, bearing it all with closed eyes and clinching teeth,
suppressing every sound. The general was there to bear a hand and speak
a word of che